Wednesday, September 19, 2007

We do not want to have to say, "we told you so" in this house

Okay, fine, Jason Varitek tells us "we need him," and normally that'd be enough for us. Normally, we'd say, "fine, let's stop calling J.D. Drew 'Nancy' and start trying to cheer him on." Normally, we'd say, "well, Tek says some of those balls were borderline and with another umpire might've been called strikes, so obviously Eric Gagné is not a ticking time bomb on the mound." But "normally" flew out the window a few losses back, and we are reeling. Of course, judging from the video footage, so is our captain.

In other news, we may not have mentioned it, but in our spare time we also root for the Mets. It's been a long stretch, is what we're saying. A painful stretch. A stretch in which we've watched our beloved pirate gang falter and our captain struggle at the plate, a stretch in which Pedro Martinez* pitched a commanding six innings only to have it tossed aside by a continually shaky Mets bullpen. A stretch that makes us way too excited about tonight's season opener of America's Next Top Model, we tell you what.

Look, we get that Manny's Being Injured and that, without him, the team is not at full offensive strength. We get that Joe Torre's Operation: Take Out the Youk finally came to fruition with one pitch from Chien-Ming Wang, thus leaving us with Eric Hinske** at first. We get that everyone's tired, we get that the Blue Jays are much better than you'd think from looking at their record, we get that the Canadian National Anthem has some sort of hypnotic suggestion in it that makes our guys unable to win ballgames. That said, raid Tavvy's cooler of Red Bulls, guys, and put some earplugs in whenever someone starts to sing, "O Canada! Our home and native land!." Get out there and play. Get out there and win.

*Stay tuned for our Guide to People You Meet at Fenway, featuring Angry Dude Who Can't Forgive Pedro Martinez for Giving Up that Homer to Aaron Boone in 2003 Because Pedro Destroyed Said Angry Dude's Hopes and Dreams and Possibly Even His Ability to Have Children and Cool Woman Who Said, "Um, Wasn't That Wakefield?" and Agreed With Us That Wake Is Totally The Man.**We actually love Eric Hinske, but we'd rather Youkilis at first than anyone else at this point.

Hey, we are both 2nd generation Mets fans, okay? (True confession time: I'm from NJ, where I narrowly escaped a fate as a Yankees fan.) If we were going to pick our teams by colors, we'd go with the Rockies. They've got purple!

But, yes, the Red Sox are our #1 team. In the end, we want them to win it all (all the time). If they play the Mets, we say, "too bad, Mets, it's been fun," and don our Papelbon and Wakefield shirts. But the Mets will always hold a special place in my heart, and that's all there is to that.

But, yes, you make a good point, one that is easily overlooked in this time of panic. The sky isn't falling, and we're still in first, and it's not over 'til it's over!

My father grew up in Queens and grew up rooting for the Mets and Red Sox both in the 60s--hey, an NL team and an AL team, what's wrong with that? It only conflicts once a year at most, and in practice, it only conflicts...well, once! That's how he brought me up, and since I've lived in New England since I was twelve, the Red Sox loyalty is stronger.

You do, however, need to apologize for enjoying seeing THE METS do well. The Mets?!?!? Come on now, everyone knows that all right-thinking folk root, root, root for the Cubbies! Or at least the Phillies! ;)

Ahem.

Can you tell I'm trying any way possible to avoid thinking about The Horror In Toronto? It has me completely baffled. Speechless.

Hey, like we said above, we both come into the Mets love honestly. No apologies forthcoming. ;)

That said, we're totally rooting for the Cubbies to win the NL Central. And were they to win the World Series, I would actually be really happy for them and their fans (this is in stark contrast to my feelings about Certain Other Teams winning the WS). I just don't follow them the way I follow the Red Sox, or even the Mets.

The Phillies on the other hand... Well, I've got cousins who are Phillies fans, but I just don't swing that way.